By Erika Lynde
The moment finally came when I accepted the fact that my perfect dress might not be an option for my budget. Practicality set in. Hope lost, I was ready to relinquish all control to my trusted gal pals, believing they would help me find a dress to best suit my needs, my wedding and my budget. I made plans to go dress shopping the next weekend with my girlfriend, Stacy. She has fabulous taste and great wedding knowledge. I knew she could definitely help me out.
I took the day off from wedding planning and set out on an afternoon adventure with my baby sis to clear my head. My sister loves all things old, so we drove over to browse through my new favorite spot: the Crompton Collective. I hadn’t been there since the wedding weekend event and thought it would be fun to take a look around without a wedding lens.
Little did I know that the wedding dress of my dreams was awaiting me inside.
It’s funny when you think you know yourself so well and moments like this make you think twice. Never in a million years would I have thought myself a ball gown type of girl. Lace, yes — of course — but ball gown, no. I’m short (petite if you will) and I thought a dress like this would swallow me whole. Not this one. I walked in and saw it on display: Delicate flowers sewn together — so elegant and dreamy — and layer upon layer of tulle, enough to make any girl blush and a silhouette capable of giving even the thinnest woman a perfect hourglass shape. It is glamorous, girly and classic vintage with a little Bohemian flair. Perfect.
I got it home and stared at it for what seemed like hours. While gazing at my dress I noticed the designer tag on the inside. I had never heard anything about “Cahill LTD Beverly Hills” wedding gowns. I went online and Googled it, and what I found took me for a spin. William Cahill was a very well know designer of from the late 1940s through the 1960s. His wedding gowns have graced the covers of magazines and were sought by fashonistas of those decades. The price tags that accompanied each dress I found online where outrageous compared to the $200 I spent at my local vintage shop (thank you Crompton!). I even found my exact gown on an antique dress website that compares it to Jackie Kenney’s wedding dress — how cool! Talk about a lucky find!
I guess I was wrong. I just needed to let my guard down and let my dress find me. My wedding vision has completely changed. I’ve been whisked away by the romance of this dress. Now it’s time to really get down and dirty with all this planning. My eyes and my mind are open. This is going to be a lot of fun!
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